Benton County, MO Water Table Trend
Benton County, MO: what the water table is actually doing
Benton County's long-term well puts the trend at 0.5 ft per decade, holding roughly steady, based on 69 measurements since 1947.
One well stands in for Benton County's whole aquifer here, the honest simplification every page on this site carries.
What the well actually measured
The most recent reading put water 56.6 ft below land surface. Readings span 1947-01-01 to 2026-10-13, 69 measurements from USGS well MO005-382726093121601 (Cole Camp), part of the National Water Information System. The qualifying bar and the OLS fit behind this trend are documented in the methodology guide.
Where Benton County ranks
Of the 1,449 US counties with a usable trend, Benton County ranks 947th from fastest-rising to fastest-declining, 1 is the fastest-rising water table measured, 1449 the fastest-declining. About 20,614 people live in Benton County, Missouri. See the fastest-moving counties guide for how Benton County stacks up against the most extreme cases nationally.
A dropping table says nothing about water quality
Whether Benton County's water table is rising or falling is independent of what's actually in the water. Depletion can concentrate naturally-occurring minerals, so it's worth checking directly with a water test rather than assuming a depth trend says anything about quality.